Justice
by hellainsocks
Summary: It's justice. That's what you tell yourself. Molly Weasley 1, post-war.


**A/N: Written for the Start and Stop Challenge on the HPFC forum. Word: Justice. **

**DISCLAIMER: -skips around- I don't own the characters.**

It's justice. She killed many and you killed her. She attacked your daughter, for Merlin's sake. She was responsible for the death of the only father figure Harry's ever known. She was evil, and she deserved to die.

So why do you feel so guilty? Why do you feel guilt over killing a Death Eater, one who would have killed you and felt no remorse – laughed over it, in fact! She tortured Alice and Frank Longbottom. Remember Alice? Your best friend. Out of her mind, now, in St Mungos forever, not remembering anyone – not even her own son. Giving him sweet wrappers every time he goes to visit. That was the future Bellatrix Lestrange gave to her and Merlin knows how many other people. You should be proud of yourself. You took revenge for them, and saved the lives of many who she would have killed. Who knows how many more would have died if you hadn't cursed her?

You saved them, think about that. You saved Ginny, too – Bellatrix would have killed her if you hadn't stepped in and screamed at her. Such courageous words, spoken with such hatred, and then the two words you never thought would pass your lips.

_Avada Kedavra._

They sound strangely like the word Muggles always associate with magic – Abracadabra. A word spoken in fun, not for the awful, life-changing reason wizards and witches use it for.

Why do you feel guilt? They should feel the guilt, and worse than that; They should feel remorse, endless sorrow, self-loathing... They killed millions between them, watched innocents die and laughed in their faces, tortured people to the point of insanity. The Death Eaters. Followers of Voldemort, the wizard who everyone is still too scared to speak the name of, most of the time. Some say his name now – mostly those who fought in the Battle, like you. Your children, too, and Hermione. Harry always did, of course. One of the few, one of the small minority of wizards who were never too scared to say his name. Strange, since he was the one to kill Harry's parents. Or maybe it was just because he escaped death by Voldemort's hands so many times.

Including the many times when he was searching Horcruxes. Oh, you're furious about that. Of course, you're glad they did it, because it killed Voldemort, but... They shouldn't have done it alone. They even turned down Remus Lupin's help! Quite right, because he had a young son, little Teddy, who's going to grow up without parents, like Harry. Still, he's got his grandparents, more than Harry ever had.

More than Tom Riddle had, too, and part of you, as a mother, feels sympathy for him - growing up without parents. Although he did kill his father, but he was angry at him for walking out on his mother, what child wouldn't be?

Of course, all of this information was gleamed from the article on it. The article from the _Daily Prophet, _which is a paper you can trust these days, thanks to Lee Jordan being the editor. Oh, the _Quibbler_'s a good one too, even if the most ridiculous articles are to be found in there sometimes.

But even Harry trusts the _Prophet_ now, hence all the interviews with them. He's published books, too – Hermione wrote most of them, of course, and Ron helped, although with his spelling, you can't imagine he was much help when it came to the writing.

Oh, that was cruel. You do love him really, it's just... You feel distant from him. From all of your children. Now Fred's... Dead. And it's created a rift between you, between you and your family. It won't last, or so you hope. It has only been a few weeks, after all. And even though you're mourning Fred, you're also feeling the guilt of having killed _her_.

You know she deserved it, and you'll convince yourself of that, convince yourself to forget about it. It's just one of those things, really. You never forget that you've taken a life, no matter whose life it was and how much you hated them. It all pales in comparison when you think about the fact that you've taken a life, the life of a person who once a mother carried for nine months, laboured to give birth to, laughed with and cried with and loved and cared for...

It doesn't go away, just like that. That's why you've got to keep reminding yourself, keep repeating it like a mantra.

It's justice. It's justice. It's justice...


End file.
